Your edit is a good pont. The prescriptive/descriptive dichotomy always seems a bit odd.
If you are a linguist: i.e a social scientist who job it is to explain how languages work in this world. Then you must describe.
If you are a language teacher then your job is to prescribe. And you make a good point that journal editors have good reasons to do the same. (Especially when looking after authors from STEM fields!)
If you are a linguist: i.e a social scientist who job it is to explain how languages work in this world. Then you must describe.
If you are a language teacher then your job is to prescribe. And you make a good point that journal editors have good reasons to do the same. (Especially when looking after authors from STEM fields!)